


Dating Spider-Man

by thewinchestergospel



Category: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gen, Jefferson and Rio are amazing, Miles Morales has one braincell but we love him for it, Secret Identity, Secret Identity Fail
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:35:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29591499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewinchestergospel/pseuds/thewinchestergospel
Summary: When Jefferson and Rio find Miles' suit lying on the ground, Miles is given the perfect excuse; he's dating Spider-Man.
Relationships: Jefferson Davis & Miles Morales & Rio Morales
Comments: 12
Kudos: 31





	1. Chapter 1

It had been an eventful day of patrolling, Miles reflected as he lay sprawled out on his bed, his suit hastily tucked away in his backpack next to him. As he closed his eyes, he felt the cool breeze from the open window a few feet away ease him into relaxation.

"Miles! Dinnertime!" Rio's voice echoed around the small apartment as Miles glanced over at his alarm clock and did a double take at the blinking numbers. Six o'clock? It had felt far later; although he supposed his parents wouldn't have taken it well if he had missed dinner while "doing homework". The homework was a lie, of course, and both he and his parents knew it; but what his parents thought he was actually doing was a far cry from what actually took up his afternoons, and Miles planned to keep it that way.

"One moment!" He shouted back, taking a few moments to just rest a little longer before heading downstairs. Apparently it was a few moments too long as he heard his dad knock twice and subsequently swing the door open.

"Hey Miles, we're waiting for you out there. We made spaghetti, might want to head down and get some."

"Yeah, okay. Just give me a moment," Miles repeated, lifting his head up just a bit to make eye contact. Jefferson nodded quickly, an odd look in his eye, and closed the door, his footsteps echoing down the hall. Letting out a long sigh, Miles' head thumped back onto his bed as he bemoaned having to get up before finally rolling off his bed and standing up, completely failing to notice his backpack on its side, clearly displaying his Spider-Man suit in all its glory.

\- - - - -

Jefferson walked down the hallway, slightly in shock as he tried to process what he had just seen. Try as he might, he couldn't think of a single alternative reason or excuse to why his son might have Spider-Man's suit in his backpack. Come to think of it, there was a lot of evidence supporting the one reason he was trying to avoid more than anything else.

 _Is my son Spider-Man?_ Jefferson didn't want to think about it, but it seemed like the only plausible answer. All this time when he'd been keeping track of his son sneaking out, he'd assumed that the backpack slung over Miles' shoulders was full of cans of spray paint, not… that. It took him a few moments to realize he had been standing stock-still in the hallway for several minutes now, too deep in thought to notice. For now, he pushed his thoughts away and traveled the few more feet to sit down, joining his wife at the dinner table.

It was a couple more minutes before Miles awkwardly walked to the table and pulled out a chair to sit down. Jefferson watched his son carefully for each detail; was Miles limping? An injury from patrol, maybe? He noticed as Miles struggled for a moment before managing to let go of the chair, was it his imagination or maybe Spider-Man's stickiness wasn't entirely under control yet? He quickly shook himself out of his spiraling thoughts as he caught Miles and Rio staring at him questioningly. Shrugging nonchalantly, he continued to swirl his fork through his spaghetti as if nothing had happened.

In the background, the television was on and playing a news report; "Earlier this day, the new Spider-Man proved himself the hero of the day yet again as he stopped a car from hitting a string of elementary students crossing the street. It appears the driver had been on his phone and unaware of the children in front of him. Spider-Man swung off before anyone could stop him for an interview but witnesses claim it appeared he had injured his ankle. Wherever you are, Spider-Man, Brooklyn thanks you." Jefferson couldn't stop himself from glancing down to Miles' leg. His right ankle was a bit swollen and red, a detail he would easily have missed had he not been looking for it. He looked away as quickly as he glanced, however, pretending he hadn't noticed anything. _Super healing_. That was supposedly one of Spider-Man's abilities.

The rest of dinner passed quickly with Jefferson finishing his spaghetti as quickly as possible without being too suspicious, although he noted that Miles was still faster, working on his third serving by the time Jefferson finally pushed back his chair and stood, taking his plate to the sink. _Enhanced metabolism_. Although not a confirmed ability, it was pretty likely for the enhanced vigilante. Vigilante, such a harsh word. Was his son really one of them?

He turned and walked back to the table, letting his thoughts continue to spiral as he sat down at the table. It wasn't much longer before Miles finally pushed back his plate with a satisfied hum. "It was really good, thank you Mom! I just gotta go and finish up my homework-" he cut himself off as he hurriedly stood up and dropped the plate, barely catching it only a couple inches from the ground as he carried it up to the sink with only slightly more caution before rushing off to his room. Jefferson and Rio shared a look, one filled with uncomfortable knowledge and the other with bewildered confusion. As the slam of Miles' bedroom door echoed through the house, Rio turned in her seat to look directly at Jefferson. "So. Something's going on with Miles."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! This is my first time writing a fic on my own for AO3, so constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. I've already got the next two chapters mostly set up so they'll be coming out shortly.


	2. Chapter 2

"Yeah, about what's going on with Miles..." Jefferson said awkwardly.

"Do you know what's going on here?" Rio said, a slight hint of accusation in her tone.

"… A bit."

"And would you mind sharing with the class?"

"I… well, uh…" Rio glared at him. "Okay so I might have gone into Miles' room and I saw a Spider-Man suit in his bag and our son is Spider-Man and-"

"Wait, hold on, what?!"

"-and look at the news, did you see that?! He stopped a bus and people are saying he got hurt and-"

"Okay, hold on, stop, take a breath." Jefferson paused his lecture and wheezed in a much-needed breath as he tried to formulate his words more precisely. As a police officer, he'd seen a lot of wild things and held pride in his ability to keep his cool. However, this was a bit closer to home. His own son was a vigilante superhero - when did this happen? When did that change?!

"I'm guessing this happened a couple of months ago," Rio said, echoing his thoughts. "That's when the new Spider-Man showed up." She accepted the idea rather quickly, it appeared. Not like it was absolutely insane or anything.

Jefferson nodded breathlessly, trying to gather his thoughts. "So… what do we do about it?"

"I don't think we should do anything."

He looked up and stared at her in confusion. "What?"

"You heard me. I don't think we should do anything about it. Miles is… well, he's a superhero! He's out there, saving people in his spare time. And it's scary and dangerous, but he's doing the right thing, so I think we should support him instead of trying to prevent him from doing this. If we could prevent him, anyway." And she was right, Jefferson thought. The best thing they could do was to support their son. And Jefferson resolved to do just that.

"So, where do you think we should start?"

\- - - - -

A few coffees later, Jefferson had calmed down a bit and was able to think a little more clearly about the fact that his son was a superhero vigilante and running around the city in a spandex suit stopping crime. Okay, maybe he wasn't totally thinking clearly yet, but whatever.

"Well, martial arts classes might be a good place to start." "True, maybe," Rio mumbled, before a thought struck her. "Hey, what about ballet?" "Ballet?" Jefferson echoed, a hint of confusion in his face. As he took a moment to consider it, understanding slowly dawned on his face. "Oh, that makes sense. It'd help build gracefulness and strength-"

"-not that he needs help in the strength department, he literally stopped a bus-"

"-well maybe not strength but at least he'd be a bit more graceful, that might help?"

Rio nodded. "Yeah, you get it. Well, we could enroll him in ballet, that's a good start at least. Anything else we can do?" Jefferson thought back to the news report, and the limp in his son's step as he walked to the table.

"A few more first-aid kids wouldn't hurt."

\- - - - -

From that point on, Jefferson made a point out of verbally supporting Spider-Man as often as he could without suspicion- well, what he thought was without suspicion. Miles was a bit confused about the whole thing, but he wasn't going to question it.

"You know, that new Spider-Man seems like a good guy. He's saving the little guy, I can appreciate that." It was dinner, and they were watching the news as Spider-Man swung onscreen and stopped a car from hitting a kid crossing the street. He seemed to do that a lot.

"Spider-Man doesn't hurt people. He's different from the other vigilantes that way, it's nice seeing a hero that looks out for everyone. His parents raised him well, I'm sure they're proud of him." He was reading the morning news, and emblazened on the front page in bold letters was the headline:

BANK ROBBERY STOPPED BY FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN

Below that was the small phrase: "Would-be robbers found disarmed and webbed up inside the bank, no injuries reported".

"Spider-Man is more efficient than any of the Avengers, he gets the job done without anything getting destroyed or anyone getting hurt." They were passing a newspaper stand, the front page boldly displaying the title:

SPIDER-MAN STOPS SCHOOL SHOOTING, NO CASUALTIES

There was a picture of Spider-Man swinging into the sky, a man webbed to the brick walls of the school in the background. Each time, Miles would nod along and pretend he didn't care, but Jefferson often caught the small, soft smile his son had after each comment. And Jefferson was so proud of his son. He was a hero, saving lives every day and didn't ask for anything in return; not money, not power, not fame. And no one knew his name.

Sometimes Miles would come back injured, usually not majorly so - thank heavens for his super-healing - but often with cuts and sprained ankles and minor burns. These would often be healed before the next morning, but Jefferson and Rio always made sure to keep the first aid kits well stocked, not only with bandages and rubbing alcohol, but also splints and braces and extensive instructions on how to use each item in the kit. They desperately hoped Miles would come to them if he were more majorly injured, but just in case.

It may not have been much, but they just wanted to support their son in any way they could.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry y'all, this one's a bit shorter than the first two but it'll get back to normal next chapter.

Miles had been patrolling far longer than usual, and the strips of orange across the horizon had long faded into twilight. Exhaustion seemed to seep into his bones as he numbly swung to his apartment, his shoulders aching with every swing.

As Miles finally reached his bedroom window and scrambled in, his brain was far too foggy to realize that as he wriggled out of his suit and flopped onto his bed, there was something quite important that he had forgotten to do.

\- - - - -

"Miles! Time for school!"

Miles opened his eyes blurrily and stared at the ceiling, bemoaning the existence of the education system yet again. Or, more precisely, the early hours it forced him to live by.

Swinging his legs off the bed and standing up, he barely had a chance to notice his suit still stretched across the floor in all its glory before his mom swung the door open.

"Miles, it's time to get up, sleepyhea-" She cut herself off as her eyes landed on the Spider-Man suit displayed clearly on the floor.

"Uh, hey Mom, I can explain-"

"…you know what?" Rio said slowly, "I think this is a matter we can deal with after school. Go get ready and… put that away."

Miles nodded nervously, his thoughts spiraling. There was no way he could make an excuse to get out of this.

\- - - - -

School simultaneously went too slowly and too quickly. Too slowly in that every second was stretched out in agonizing worry that his parents knew, they knew and there was no way he could get out of this. Too quickly in that each minute was another minute closer to having to out his secret identity, and another minute lost trying to come up with an excuse that wasn't absolutely horrible.

In the end, he had nothing. No excuses.

It was time to come out with it.

\- - - - -

The ride home was agonizingly slow. Miles wiggled anxiously as the tense atmosphere in the car escalated, barely calming when he and Jefferson finally got out of the car and walked up to their apartment. As the door to the apartment opened, Miles felt another rush of anxiety hit him when he saw Rio sitting firmly at the dinner table, anxiety that redoubled when Jefferson pulled out a chair to sit next to her, opposite Miles. He shuffled up, sitting down in the chair and keeping his eyes firmly on the worn grains of the table, trying to ignore the sound of his own heart thumping firmly in his chest.

"So, Miles-" And Miles couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been doing this without telling you, but I had to, you understand right? And I shouldn't have kept this from you but please don't make me stop!"

"Why would we make you stop?" Jefferson asked, sounding genuinely confused. Miles looked up in bewilderment.

"What? But you know… the… thing."

Rio spoke up. "Miles, we saw the suit on the ground, we know you're dating Spider-Man. He's not a bad guy, we're not concerned about him, I just wish you didn't keep this from us."

There were no words to explain just how lost and confused Miles was in that exact moment.

"Uh… yeah! Yep, that's definitely what's going on here!" Miles' voice sounded fake, even to him. It seemed to convince his parents though, as they nodded slightly.

"Well," Jefferson said, a bit awkwardly, and was he smiling? It felt wrong somehow, to see his dad awkwardly smiling while Miles just wanted to curl up and disappear. Dating Spider-Man? Yeah, that's a heck of an excuse right there.

"I agree with Rio, you should have told us about this," Jefferson continued, "but I get it. I was a kid once too, you know. Just, uh, stay safe?" Miles almost snorted. The safety his dad meant was definitely different from the type of danger Miles dealt with on a daily basis. Instead of responding though, he just shrugged and nodded noncommittally.

"Oh, and Miles?" Rio looked at Miles expectantly. "You should bring Spider-Man over for dinner sometime! You didn't really think you could have your first boyfriend and not let us meet him, did you?"

Oh no. Yeah, that was definitely not a good sign. But alas, Miles' voice betrayed him. "Oh! Uh, yeah, yeah that should be fine! I'll ask him when he's available." Well, in any case, this was definitely going to be interesting.


	4. Chapter 4

This couldn't be happening.

This was certifiably, undeniably insane. How could things have gone this wrong? It was all so stupid! If it weren't for leaving his stupid suit around like an idiot none of this would have happened in the first place. And how the hell was he going to pull this off! Somehow, he was supposed to bring Spider-Man to meet his parents, and there was only one Spider-Man.

Wait a moment…

\- - - - -

"No."

"But Gwen, please! You could use a binder, and we could get a voice modulator or something so your voice is deeper and maybe it'd work if they didn't try to get you to take off the mask or something!"

"As hilarious as this whole scenario is, I don't particularly want to wear your probably gross and sweaty suit and pretend to be your boyfriend for dinner with your parents."

"Gwen, I really need your help-"

"No. Not going to happen." And that, unfortunately, was that. If Gwen wasn't going to help him, not a single thing he could say would change her mind.

"Hey, it's not like I'm the only option. Maybe ask one of the other Spider-Mans… Spider-Men… whatever. And if nothing else," Gwen flashed a mischievous grin, "I bet Spider-Ham would be up for it."

"You've got to be kidding me."

\- - - - -

"I can't believe I'm doing this."

Miles dragged his hand over his face in embarrassment and awkwardness as he stood outside Peter Porker's door. This was his last option.

Summoning up his strength, he knocked on the door. As he stood waiting, listening to shuffling and- was that an oink? - on the other side of the door, he couldn't help but regret every single choice that led to this moment.

Finally the door opened to reveal Peter Porker staring up at him, a vaguely confused expression on his face. "Hey Miles, what's going on here?"

Miles pushed aside the sudden realization of how much Spider-Ham's voice sounded like John Mulaney's (that was a rabbit trail for another day) as he thought of a good way to respond.

"Hey Peter, uh… it's a really long story, but I really need an immensely weird favor."

"Sounds fun, I'm in."

\- - - - -

"So… when did you meet?" Jefferson and Rio sat at the dinner table across from their son and Spider… something as they talked over a few boxes of pizza. A few hours earlier, the two parents had been immensely amused when considering what Miles might come up with in his attempts to wriggle out of the dinner, but this certainly wasn't what they had expected.

Miles fumbled for a response for a few moments before Spider-Ham interjected.

"Why, I saved his life, of course!"

"Yeah… yeah, that's exactly what happened!" Miles said, nodding far too enthusiastically for the subject at hand.

"Oh! Oh, uh, when did this happen? Rio said awkwardly, trying to conceal a grin as she glanced over at her husband who had a similar expression.

"Well, uh, we were at a…"

"A park."

"Oh yeah, yeah a park, and I was just… walking? In the park? And then this guy just came up and… mugged me! Yeah, he tried to mug me but Spider-Man stopped him and… yeah. I don't really know, it just kinda happened from there."

"Mhmm…" Rio said slowly, a smirk growing on her face. "And what were you doing at the park? When was this?"

If Miles noticed her amusement at the whole scenario, it certainly didn't show.

"Uh, I was just meeting up with a friend and-"

"And when was this? I don't recall you mentioning this before," Rio continued.

"Oh yeah, yeah well, we can just talk about this later, right? Yeah, it's late-" Miles glanced at the clock to see it was only half past seven, "-yeah, really late, and I'm sure Spider-Man is tired, right?"

"What? No, I'm not-" but the Spider… pig? was cut off as Miles exaggeratedly nodded at him and finally took the hint. "Oh yeah, yeah I'm super tired, it's definitely time for me to go home and do some… superhero-ey stuff…" as Spidey stood up and hastily pushed his chair in with a loud screech that made everyone cringe.

"Sorry about that, I'll- uh, just be going now…" And before anyone could say anything to the contrary, he was gone.

Miles let out a long sigh, although whether it was from relief or frustration was anyone's guess. Rio had to admit that was a bit wild, but it was also very amusing to watch her son squirm trying to keep everything under wraps.

"Well, that's… that's all! Yeah, you met him and… good night!" And he vanished, the loud thud of his bedroom door echoing out a moment later.

Rio and Jefferson barely made eye contact before they had to suppress their hysterical laughter. That had been interesting, all right. And their son had come up with a solution none of them had expected or were prepared for. That had been fun, but now it was time to get back to life as usual - well, as usual as things got in this family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry I didn't update sooner, it's been rough and I'm not thriving lol. It'll hopefully work out soon though.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is my first time writing a fic on my own for AO3, so constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. I've already got the next two chapters mostly set up so they'll be coming out shortly.


End file.
